Here’s The Scoop…5/26/09 LBTS Commission Meeting…#1…What’s Up With Her?…
May 27, 2009 by Barbara
THERE IS “MENTORING”…GIVING ADVICE…AND THEN THERE IS BEING….
Dear Readers…for quite some time now…no matter where I go…I hear the same comment…”What’s up with her”…The “her” is Commissioner Clottey…The residents former backers…and those that never backed “her”……are just totally befuddled by the behavior they are witnessing on the dais and off…..
What happened to our “Sandra Day O’Connor?”…
The only answer I have is…”She is besotted”…by a certain”mentor”….a former commissioner…who has the unfettered ability to give her the last word and guide her into the abyss she has now found herself in…
Last night reached a crescendo in absurd questions she asked …and adverse remarks she heard coming from her constituents….
It started with her question to BSO Chief Scott Gooding at the BSO monthly report…” I would like you to tell the residents what to do when they observe a drug deal go down.”…YIKES!…Chief Gooding stepped to the podium and remarked that he hoped there was not too much of that…and asked her if she meant a “hand to hand drug deal?”…She said ‘yes”…He went on to say the “observer” should not call 911…but should call the police and give a description and assured the Commissioner that within 30-50 seconds a patrol car would show up…Comm. Clottey had said it was on El Mar Drive and the Chief used that as an example for giving the information to the police…”the corner of Washingtonia and El Mar Drive”…He added that there are drug deals going on in LBTS…and said the BSO is appreciative of these calls….
BC- Let’s see we had the Vice Mayor on TV saying tourists “would be going home in a box” if it were not for the VFD and now we have this Commissioner talking about drug deals on the street we just gave out awards to students for beautifying …WOW!…Great P.R.
Next up was the VFD report and Comm. Clottey wanted to know why Fort Lauderdale could keep people out of the water and we could not…She wanted the Town to have something we could “put teeth in” to restrict people…and asked the Town Atty…The Town Atty. replied that LBTS does not have lifeguards….and it was a state owned beach…although the Town Atty. could look into something…(one more ordinance!)…
BC-We won’t pay for lifeguards at the beach around the pier…offering tourists professional protection…and a speedy response from those lifeguards already stationed on the beach…but we should keep residents from going in the water… ARGHHH…..
Comm. Clottey became McIntee “LITE” with her “questioning” of AMR Operations Manager Brook Liddle…about how many AMR ambulances were there for the hyperbaric chamber explosion…..Liddle responded 4 were on the island…3 on scene and 1 ready for anything else……along with 1 off the island…Comm. Clottey (using McIntee- like “leading” questioning)…”Why did you do this?”…Liddle replied that the “scene required it”…Clottey “We had a lot of protection”…
BC- Groans were heard as this line of questioning took place so soon after the VFD presentation P.R…..
Commissioner Clottey did seem to have a momentary lapse of independence …when she corrected the Vice Mayor about the flawed alleyway study…and reminding him that the commission approval for egress from the pier parking lot was for “emergency reasons”…and not “emergency vehicles”…as he was trying hard to railroad the engineer and commissioners into accepting ….She even offered up a temporary 2nd for a further study by the engineer to actually …physically come to the alley to make a report …that she withdrew as quickly as she made it…
BC- Visions of that imaginary little devil came to mind…sitting upon her shoulder…..
Commissioner Clottey was clobbered by the vacation rental “people” who came to speak their minds…It was not a pretty sight…but it was accurate…from what this writer heard as I sat in Town Hall the previous Friday afternoon…(I was looking at the backup material and she was in the conference room with 2 of the speakers)….and she did say exactly what they called her on… when they said she said….”they fell through the cracks”…that they (rentals) “were ugly”… ‘a nuisance”…and “don’t like seeing them all”….giving credence to the other speakers who brought forward her similar comments made to them…about stopping the rentals…that “somebody could get hurt”…along with other comments…and ending with one speaker questioning a conflict of interest with her purported purchase of a timeshare in LBTS…OUCH!…
Vice Mayor McIntee said Comm. Clottey had multiple people in Bel-Air contacting her …who were supportive …that this was no “personal vendetta”…(He would know!)
Comm. Clottey said she had been accused of a lot…of “saying things I did not say” (beg to differ)….that she went on E-bay and bought points on a timeshare to trade …adding the low cost signage had to do with hotels…not residential rentals…going further into the “Mc-Gang” mantra…of saying the “spin is wonderful” and throwing a few uncalled for responses in the direction of one speaker who is her next door neighbor…and ending with being truly tone deaf to the Town Atty.’s position on the time allowance even after the Town Atty. “reminded” her of the atty’s previous legal opinion…with Clottey offering up a “friendly amendment” of 14 days rather than 7!…Comm. Silverstone reiterated the Town Atty’s opinion yet again… …and Chief Gooding verified what he has said before…that there have been no major problems with short term renters……as the constituents themselves had informed her…….but to no avail…when she proceeded to vote against it…in a 3-2 vote…losing this one with Vice Mayor McIntee…After the vote came a vote for a workshop…with a vote of 5-0…no date set…as Comm. Clottey said it was not her that started this…..it was former Comm. Clark…(So there!)….
BC- Note to the vacation rental “people” keep checking on this site…to see when this comes back…for the “wagons will circle” and the “3-2 ” vote can be overturned at any time…with Comm. Silverstone bringing it back…since he voted on the prevailing side!….
The Bel-Air entryway signage…was “restitution” Commissioner Clottey said for someone removing the wall…(That would be the Town Administration)…and she and her neighbors were “harmed by some of the equipment” …( for the sewers)…stating no one should “begrudge restitution”…
BC- Many still feel that rather than 2nding a motion made by fellow Bel-Air resident VM McIntee…she should have joined him in recusing herself!…
Truly funny was Comm. Clottey’s request for Assist. Town Manager Olinzock to prepare Town residents ahead of time for Consent Agenda item h…the special event application for the Lauren Katzenbaum Celebration Ride 2009 on June 28,2009…for the Commissioner feared for the residents being caught unaware of the noise from the motorcycles heading their way…Only problem…it was for a bikes…and this is the 5th year…with no problems previously….OOPS!…
“Besotted” Comm. Clottey went further down the path of no return when dealing with the 2-day event requested by the Marchelos brothers for a request for a special event in their own pier parking lot…a private property…at 5 pm on the 4th of July…It was to begin after the VFD-CIC 4th of July “2-Hats/Broom Boys Re-election Kickoff Party”…… and for a second day on Sunday…Commisioner Clottey made outrageous remarks….such as asking how they could refer to it as a “wine and food” event if they were serving hot dogs and gyros…(she pronounced it jeerose)…Then leaping into the McFurth -muck by asking them about their “lease” not allowing food to be served after 3 pm…The brothers could not understand what she was talking about…The request for a special event permit in the parking lot had nothing to do with a lease …and the requirements for the permit were all in order per the Town staff…Comm. Clottey showed her “hand” when she said a copy of the lease was put in her box (we hear it was a McIntee request)…HMMMM….A back and forth exchange took place with the Vice Mayor and the Mayor over Spiros Marchelos coming to the podium to respond to her…with BFF “Jimmy” saying “Throw them out”…never mind they received no warning…(old habits die hard)…Comm. Clottey said she just asked a question…(some question!) and instructed them to go back to their seats….Not done yet…after all she knew what was “required” of her…and she again did a “McIntee lite”…by asking the 2 Commissioners chairing the event what they thought about the 2 -day event…they said “no”…(surprise…surprise)…It went down…3-2 ( Dodd and Minnet voted for it)…Her constituents…yelled “Shame on you…shame on you…2010…2010!”….and walked out in disgust!…
BC- Later on after they had long left the hall and before the meeting ended…. she asked to amend the item…to offer the Marchelos brothers Sunday only…The Mayor made a second…again handing the gavel to the VM…and it passed 5-0…with instructions for the Town staff to contact them…
BC….Too little…too late…LITERALLY!….Which Town staff will be allowed to make contact with the pier owners?…( The staff has been instructed not to speak to the Marchelos brothers)….
Final topic of the 1st commission night was the kitesurfing…where she wanted to know about certification…and picture I.D.s…and agreed with “Commissioner” (She demoted him) McIntee…to “poll” the condos on launching from the beach behind them (Sea Ranch Club)….as she asked the Town Atty. about preferential residential treatment….and was met with the Town Atty. reminding her that she was told before…that the atty. had not heard back from the state and you have to have a “reason”……to treat non-residents differently….preferentially……as this issue also saw another delay…to the 2nd meeting in July…
BC- “Sandra Day O’Connor” come back soon!….
more to come….
